Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough

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One of the things I've always admired about entrepreneurs is their drive to continue building and innovating, even after reaching a level of success that would send most people to an early retirement in the tropics, frozen drink in hand. Don Rose is one such entrepreneur. As I learned from a Dec. 28 Boston Globe profile, the man who launched the nation's first CD-only record stores back in the '80s, as well Rykodisc Records, the first CD-only label, has embarked on a new project -- as president of the American Association of Independent Music. The recently formed trade group seeks to help indie music labels get a bigger piece of the industry pie, which is currently gobbled up by the four major conglomerates. In other words, an entrepreneur helping his own. With a digital music revolution under way, and old business models going the way of the 8-Track, opportunity is aplenty for independent labels these days.

What spurned Rose to take on a new business challenge, and take a break from racing his antique Aston Martin? "This just appealed to me," he tells the Globe's Steve Morse. "The issues are so big right now and so interesting." As Inc. staff writer Stephanie Clifford pointed out in March 2005, it's that kind of insatiable curiosity and can't-sit-still personality that enables serial entrepreneurs to recognize opportunities and transform them into success stories -- over and over again. Sound like you?